Recent Feedback
I have a vanity light I am installing in my bathroom. There are three wire feeds coming from the wall and each has a black, white, and ground wire. This light is hooked to a switch as well. There is a ceiling light in the bathroom that is also powered through this hookup. I have found the hot wire. When we connect all blacks, all whites, and all grounds together the vanity light comes on with the switch in the on or off position and once you flip the switch it trips the breaker. When the person that took this down, he removed two white and two black jumper wires.
Hi, I'm Mike and I'll be glad to assist you. Do you have a 2 wire voltage tester?Mike G.41000.7704547106
Yes I do
The 3 set of wires need to be identified. Test each pair to fing the line feed to the box. If you have a multimeter set it to the ohms setting and test the other pairs for continuity with the switch in the on and then in the off position. The set that changes is the switch leg. With these identified we can make the connections. Let me know when you're ready to continue.
I am not getting anything when I switch it on or off. I tested the light switch and there is no power to that right now either so is there something that needs to be hooked up using those wires to make it have power?
Is there a GFCI receptacle in that or another bathroom?
Yes, I have checked that.
Did you check each pair (black & white) for voltage? Did you check to see if the breaker is on?
Yes I have checked and the breaker is on.
I'll give you a sketch to show how it should be wired. You'll need to recheck the breaker. Turn it off and then back on. If there is still no voltage at the opening, you'll need to open the panel and test the breaker to make sure it is on electrically. I would suggest that you trip and reset any GFCI receptacles. If none of the steps restore the power then let me know and we'll need to go further.
Okay I wired it like you said but the light does not come on. However I am getting power to the switch now.
Check the connection on the white wires in the wall opening.
Okay now I have power on both the vanity and the ceiling light. However the switch to the vanity has to be flipped on inorder for the ceiling light to trun on.
Is there a separate switch for the ceiling light? Your question as stated led me to think both lights worked off the same switch. If not minor change required. Let me know.
Okay yeah thats my fault there is a switch right when you walk in that controls the ceiling light and another switch that runs the vanity
Here you go.
The vanity light works but the other ceiling light does not work at all now
Check your connections. When you take wires apart and the reconnect them, you need to twist them with a pair of pliers before putting the wire nut on them. Being twisted before they sometimes break off and you may not notice that or they slip and don't make a good connection. If the light was working the connections are the only thing that changed.
The conncections are tight but we do not have power to the ceiling light switch.
With the wires as they are connected, I want you to check the switch for the ceiling light for power. Also, is the vanity light still working on its switch?Mike G.41000.8740504282
The vanity light and the vanity switch work but the ceiling light switch and ceiling light do not work.
Did you do anything with the ceiling light when you were having the problem originally? You told me it doen't work. I asked if the switch had power.
No nothing has been done with the ceiling light and no the switch does not have power.
Follow the reasoning. We had both lights working off the one switch. That meant that the lead to the ceiling light was on the switch leg of the vanity light. When you moved the wire as instructed, you moved the hot wire to the ceiling light off of the switch leg and connected it to the hot for both lights. The vanity light is working, that means there is power and the only thing to change was moving the one wire. With no power to the ceiling light or switch and no work having been done, that means that you have a bad connection on the black wire you moved. The only other thing could be that if there is a GFCI in that bathroom that is powered off the same feed.Mike G.41000.8893691319
Experience: Proven Professional 44 years Experience
Ok thank you I had a loose wire in the back of the wall that came loose while installing.
Very good, it had to be. Thanks for accepting.